1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for transporting grass clippings from a discharge opening defined laterally of a housing of a grass cutting unit supported under a vehicle body to a grass catcher through a duct, for example. More particularly, the invention relates to a grass transport device having an impeller and attached to a housing of grass cutting blades.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known grass transport device as noted above is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,353, for example. This transport device is disposed outside and adjacent a grass discharge opening defined in a housing of a 3-spindle type cutting unit, and includes an impeller rotatable about a vertical axis. The impeller occupies an entire width of a passage extending from the grass discharge opening to a transport duct. However, the impeller achieves only an insufficient transporting efficiency in that only about one fourth of a total locus area of rotation of the impeller actually contributes to the grass transport.
A different transport device is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,073, in which a grass transporting impeller is disposed in a higher position than grass cutting blades. In this prior construction, a blade housing has an upper wall thereof extending outwardly beyond a locus of rotation of the impeller, whereby grass clippings from the blade housing are guided to regions outwardly of the locus of rotation of the impeller. Since grass clippings are drawn by using only a discharging force of the impeller, air currents generated peripherally of the impeller suppress upward air currents. This results in the inconvenience of the grass clippings tending to stagnate in an ascending passage.